I was wondering who you all would rank as the most important influence in your cooking? For me, it was my father, who taught me how to make SOS and subsequently a roux and a white sauce. You stir it one of two ways, according to him, both of his terms are probably inappropriately for me to say here... Oh yeah, also my mother, for her home grown vegetables... and Mike, who taught me how to flip eggs...

Location: I live in the Heartland of the United States - Western Kentucky

Posts: 15,566

Gosh I'd have to say my most influential cooking person would have to be one of my next door neighbors, Kittie, when I was newly married in 1968. I'd been cooking for nearly 10 years at that time (began when I was about 8-years-old.) She was a Russian woman who could do almost anything. She made and tailored her husband's suits and was an awesome interior decorator. Her cooking skills were beyond belief.

She and I became fast friends and she shared recipes and cooking techniques with me. I still remember here tutorials and have stacks and stacks of the recipes she gave me. No joke. She would give me 2- and 3-inch stacks of handwritten recipes regularly. I still have them all (by now yellowed) and I will never cook all the delicious dishes that are promised by the recipe cards. Sadly, she's no longer with us. But if she was, she'd be cookin' up a storm. All delicious.

So, in answer to the OP's question...Kittie Strawson was my cooking mentor.

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"As a girl I had zero interest in the stove." - Julia Child
This is real inspiration. Look what Julia became!

My Mentor Master Chef Charles Jewell his protegee Tommy Brunson Who I worked under for Ten Years They were both true gentilen never swore or berated any body. If they had some thing to say to you they took you off to a private place and told you what for and that was the end of it. Both are in the big kitchen in the sky

I'm now learning to cook fairly late considering how many people I've been responsible for feeding for so many years. So far, my major influences have been my good friend and neighbor who took me under her wing and taught me several things I could reliably cook well. That spurred me on. Nothing like a few minor successes to kindle the fire. Second are the folks here at DC. It's amazing to be able to ask a question and have so many knowledgeable cooks willing to take the time to help. I can't express how much I appreciate that and what a difference it has made in my cooking.

I would say Mom and Dad. They were not exceptional chefs. But both of them could navigate themselves about a kitchen. My sister and I were never actaully taught anything about cooking. We just wanted to be with our parents and so we hung out where they were. On Sundays and holidays that was in the kitchen. Even as tadpoles we wanted to help and so they let us, although I doubt when we were young we helped very much. But they praised us and let us do what we wanted.

Later on, when we ten or so, we started to cook ourselves. Mostly breakfasts on weekends - lots of pancakes - when the folks were still asleep and we were looking for something to do.

For some reason our parents trusted us in the kitchen and we took advantage of it, even having other kids in for breakfast.

Then we went on a French fry jag when we were twelve or so. Our ever patient Mom (Dad would be at work) would let us make the fries after school.

And then came other jags and Mom was fully supportive, which means she would buy the stuff but basically kept herself out of the procedure, letting us make our own mistakes and learn as a result.

That in essence was the way we were raised. They were there to help and guide us, and when push came to shove they were the ultimate law. But help they certainly did, I cannot tell you how many hours it took Dad to get me to understand algebra, but as long as we were doing OK they did not interfere.

Myabe they had learned that policy by raising our much older two brothers. Or perhaps it was just their inherent wisdom, I do not know. I do know I miss them.

But when in my life the poop seems to be hitting the rotating mechanical device, I sit back and ask myself 'What would the folks say?'. That process has helped me through a whole bunch of messes. I guess no one is never truly gone as long as their wisdom lives on.

As I got older it was people like Julia, Graham Kerr, and the Frug who fueled my love of the kitchen.

That's my simple tale.

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Before criticizing a person, walk a mile in his shoes - then you are a mile away and you have his shoes!

Aunt Dot, your folks sound great! I didn't let my older kids in the kitchen mostly because I had no idea what to do in there myself. But I did eventually realized this was a mistake and so my last 3 kids have always been encouraged to explore cooking in any way they chose. I know what you mean about jags - we've had Spam jags, grilled cheese sandwich jags, doctored up Ramen jags, brownie jags etc. I just make sure I get all the stuff they ask for and let them go. It's worked out really well and the 2 teen boys are pretty good cooks!

I learned to cook very young, standing on a chair to reach the stove...oatmeal, or perhaps mashed potatoes. In either case they sometimes came out lumpy. By the time I was tall enough to throw away the chair I had the basics down. It was simple food. In the summer most of it came from a garden.

In my late twenties I met a Cajun gentleman. He'd grown up in poverty. He hunted, trapped, and fished, paddling his pirogue through the swamps and bayous of Southern Louisiana. This supplemented the food his mother received from a government assistance program. This is the first person I'd met who could turn cooking into an art form. He could paint too, mostly watercolors, mostly wildlife. Isn't that what makes a great chef - the artistry?

I'd have to say DH is my biggest influence - when we married, my cooking skills were very limited. There was a year when I was taking classes at the local university as well as working full-time and we ate frozen dinners most of that year. After that, I craved good home-cooked food so I taught myself to cook and then I discovered fresh herbs. With his encouragement, I started cooking and experimenting more and he was very supportive no matter how it turned out. It was his idea to buy me a good set of knives for Christmas about 15 years ago - I had no idea how much easier cooking would be with a good set of knives

And I'm sure some of my obsession with cooking comes from having inflammatory bowel disease - when there are certain foods you can't eat, you tend to obsess over it. Now, I have more cookbooks and clipped recipes than I can possibly use, but I keep buying more. Part of that is because I'm so curious about how cooking developed in different cultures, so I like cookbooks that go into the history of the area the cuisine is about.

So that's it in a nutshell

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__________________The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you're hungry again. ~ George Miller